Today I described a species – 2025 Taxonomy recognition day
Associação BIOPOLIS – CIBIO; Município de Lousada
Mata de Vilar – Municipio de Lousada (Portugal)
23 May 2025
This May, Associação BIOPOLIS – CIBIO organised the “Today I described a species – 2025 Taxonomy recognition day” citizen science event at Mata de Vilar – Municipio de Lousada (Portugal). A total of 52 high school students took part in the workshop. The students participated in a mixture of theoretical sessions, practical work, challenges and a game. They also gave a final presentation of their results.
Goals
- To create awareness on the importance of taxonomic research
- Understanding the key moments of species discovery and description
- Understanding DNA barcoding as a tool to distinguish species
- To create awareness on the diversity of all life forms
- To improve proximity and public perception of science and taxonomic work
Content
WHAT (CB – concepts)
Diversity and importance of life forms
Role of Taxonomy in science and in day by day life
Components of species description
DNA barcode as a tool for species distinction
HOW (CB – concepts, training)
Decoding DNA barcodes
Creating a new species
Describing the new organism: type specimen, type locality, diagnosis, designation (naming species)
ACT (CB – concepts, tools)
Is there space in science for citizens: Tools and Initiatives (iNaturalist/BioDiversity4All)
PLAY TIME (CB – concepts, available tools, creation of tools)
Challenge: create a new species in playdough
Game: DNA barcoding BINGO
Each team (two members) received two pieces of playdough and a form to create and describe a new species. They were challenged to create any form of life without taxonomic restrictions. Then they would have to fill a form (in Portuguese) with all steps of species description: name, taxonomy, type locality, diagnose characters and storing institution. During the activity the participants were invited to take a Head in hole Linnaeus picture.
In the end, each team did present the new species to all participants followed by an open questions and answers session.
Header: The “Today I described a species – 2025 Taxonomy recognition day” citizen science event at Mata de Vilar – Municipio de Lousada (Portugal). Image by: Municipio de Lousada